Magic

There are two types of magic in the Witanlore universe: Inherent magic and Ritual magic. Inherent magic relies on the player's own magical energy, while Ritual magic relies on the magical energy found in the world around them.

Inherent Magic
Inherent magical power comes from within you. There are two magical paths to choose from, Solar Influence which governs the physical schools of Life and Death and Lunar influence which governs the spiritual schools of Creation and Ethereal.

Most magical folk in Arthanswold specialize in only one school of magic; the reason being that their magic flow is bound to the attuning of their spiritual energy or life force. For example. whether you choose to be aligned to Life Magic in CharGen, or are attuned in game play by a master, your spirit flow will be set to Life Magic so spells cast within that school would be super charged because they match your alignment. A Life Magic wielder would be well suited to being a healer or an alchemist. By staying within your chosen alignment you can become more powerful, more quickly, like a fish to water; it is your natural state.

However unnatural, it is possible for a magic wielder to be dual aligned, some of the great patrons of Arthanswold were dual wielders. For both schools to be in balance, they must come from opposite influences, one Solar and one Lunar. For example, a dual wielder may be attuned to Life Magic and Ethereal Magic, and cast both with equal strength at the same time. Combining Life Magic and Death Magic is possible, but it comes at a high cost, since it creates an imbalance in the Solar influence. The spells cast from the weighted second school will cost extra strength/power, weakening the caster, and the two schools can only be cast in trade off, not simultaneously. Dual wielders are typically excellent battlemages as they can cast some form of offensive and defensive spell in tandem.

Ritual Magic
Ritual Magic is an ancient type of spell craft left over from the age of the Iethor; an aquatic humanoid race that is long extinct but was one of the earliest to inhabit Arthanswold. Though as a species they had no inherent magic, the Iethor learned how to tap into the source of all magic using a combination of power symbols and natural elements. The depth of their knowledge is now lost to time, but they left behind clues that will enable you to unearth their secrets.

Ritual based spells can be wielded by any type of character regardless of magical alignment, even by characters with no inherent magical power.

The process of using Ritual Magic begins with discovering the ruins of Ritual Sites called the Unara, which can be found scattered all across Arthanswold; usually near a font of elemental power like a spring (water) or natural mound (earth). Each site is dedicated to a different element and each has a unique offering of ritual spells that can be unlocked. Before you can reach the mysteries within, you will need to collect the glyph markers displayed on the ruin.

The four primary elements Water, Fire, Earth, and Air form the base structure of most spells regardless of spell type because of their connection to the natural structure of the world. They represent the physical connectedness aspect of the spell formation. Elemental Glyphs are fairly abundant and can be found readily with even casual exploring. Most magic wielders will have these glyphs available for you to buy or trade for as well.

Combined with elemental glyphs, Power Glyphs are the actual source of magical fortitude for Ritual Spells. These glyphs tap into the magic flow of external sources like plants and animals and roots them into your spell crafting. However, these can be harder to acquire and are very rarely purchasable. They will most likely be found in difficult dungeons, as special rewards for challenging quest work, or fleeced from high level enemies if you can defeat them.

When the required glyphs are in your possession you can then insert them into the Unara to perform the sacred rite event which gifts you a spell map for that location and opens a spell queue in your inventory.

A Spell Map is essentially a recipe of physical and/or spiritual ingredients which can be combined at a Ritual Table to create an instance of that spell in your queue. Once a ritual spell is learned from a spell map, it is yours to use and reuse as often as you choose. Ritual spells can also be crafted at any time, at any ritual table (even those within player homes), to load the queue and save for later use. As your queue is used up, you can gather more ingredients and recraft to reload your inventory for the next fight!